Was the Crucifixion Really on Friday and the Resurrection on Sunday? — William Arnold III — Repository

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Was the Crucifixion Really on Friday and the Resurrection on Sunday?

Question:

The day of our assembling together has nothing to do with any law but to say that Sunday is the Lord's day is a lie. Christ did not die on Friday and did not resurrect the first day of the week. Your Easter celebration is based on a big lie of the romish church and you go right along with it.

Response:

Consider the following:

Jesus died and was taken down from the cross on the "preparation day" (Greek, paraskeue) - Mark 15:42; Luke 23:54; John 19:31. This day could refer to the day before a Sabbath or the day before a holiday.
However, this particular preparation day is specifically said to be "the day before the Sabbath" – Mark 15:42.
Occasionally, the Sabbath would not fall on the last day of the week (Saturday).
However, this particular Sabbath immediately preceded the first day of the week (Sunday) - Matt. 28:1. Therefore it must have been a Saturday and the preparation day must have been Friday.
Although a new day for us officially begins at midnight, the Jews began a new day at sunset.
Therefore, after the sun set on Saturday, Sunday began.
Jesus rose sometime before sunrise on Sunday morning - Matt. 28:1; Luke 24:1.
Jesus said elsewhere that he would rise "on the third day" - Matt. 16:21; 17:23; 20:19; Luke 9:22; 18:33; 24:7; 24:46. Sunday was the third day.
Finally, Jesus is specifically said to have risen "on the first day of the week" (Sunday, emphasis added) - Mark 16:9. (Although the longer ending of Mark is textually suspect, even most scholars who do not consider it canonical do see it as an accurate account of history).
Jesus was in the tomb for parts of three days according to Jewish reckoning – the end of Friday, all day Saturday and part of Sunday.

See also my article: "How Was Jesus in the Earth for Three Days and Three Nights?" For a detailed discussion about this issue, which evaluates alternatives views, see: Harold Honer, Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1977).